AFC Leopards coach Patrick Aussems has confessed that minnows Equity Bank deserved to reach the FKF Shield Cup final at the expense of his side.
On Sunday, Ingwe were forced to toil and get past the Division One side, settling for a 0-0 draw on normal time before winning the semi-fixture at Utalii grounds 6-5 after a tense penalty shoot-out.
Isaac Kipyegon, Said Tsuma, Washington Munene, Elvis Rupia, Clyde Senaji, and Hansel Ochieng scored for Ingwe but Austin Odhiambo missed.
Meanwhile, Derrick Odhiambo, Evans Ochieng, Derrick Ayisi, Humphrey Otieno, and Timothy Ngugi scored for the Bankers, while Levan Ochieng and Josephat Waititu failed to convert their penalty kicks to earn Ingwe the final ticket.
The Belgian tactician has since claimed his side was outplayed in the fixture and further admitted they were lucky to win the clash on penalties.
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What has been said?
“First of all, I would like to congratulate Equity because they also deserved to win this game as well because penalties are like you take a coin and toss it out and you don’t know what can happen,” Aussems told Goal.
FKF.
“To be honest with you, even if we had possession and maybe more situation they [Equity] had the best opportunity overall to win the game so you know cup game it is never easy but the most important thing is to be in the final but to be honest with you and one more time I would like to congratulate Equity because they even have good players than some teams in the premier league.”
On his plan having reached the final, Aussems said: “We first have to recover the players tomorrow [Monday] and then Tuesday morning we travel to Taita Taveta because we face Sofapaka in the league so our most important task now is recovering, maybe the players will be able to celebrate for one or two hours but from tomorrow, we will be back on duty.”
What did Equity coach say?
On his part after exiting the knockout competition, Equity coach John Baraza said he had told his players to push themselves for a final slot and they almost caused an upset against the giants.
“We did not have any plans because I told my players to push themselves, the players have been pushing themselves in training and have always impressed me, but you can see the final result, we are out, and we leave a proud team,” the former Harambee Stars striker told Goal.
“I was impressed with how we played, it was a good game we had chances, we dominated the game, and never used the chances we created and you know when it comes to penalties, it depends on someone’s luck, and the luck has fallen to AFC.”
Ingwe will face rivals Gor Mahia, who also toiled to reach the final after downing Bidco United on penalties, on July 4 with the winner pocketing Ksh2million from the title sponsors and also a ticket to the Caf Confederation Cup.
